1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a stone-paved floor construction suitable for installation on floor surfaces of housings in general, concrete buildings for hotels or the like and brick buildings, and at the same time to a method of paving floor surfaces with stones. More particularly, this invention concerns a stone-paved floor construction and a floor paving method, which do not require mason's meticulous skills or which can make up for a lack of meticulous skills on the part of masons, for laying paving stones promptly and neatly while achieving improvements in working efficiency, and as a consequence reduction in the costs of construction.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Along with the recent development of nuclear facilities and industrial developments, there has been a sharp increase in construction of housing and buildings for hotels and the like. This has been particularly conspicuous in metropolitan areas.
The floor surfaces of such housing in general, concrete buildings for hotels and brick buildings are often paved with a material such as ceramic or asphalt plastic tiles or pieces of natural stone like marble or the like to provide a pleasing appearance.
Heretofore, manual labors when paving a floor surface have usually resorted to laying tiles or marble of substantially thin square shape on the floor surface immediately after concrete placement. The laid tiles or marble stones are then tapped with a rubber hammer or the like to ensure intimate contact with the underlying floor surface.
In the case of resurfacing a paved floor, it has been the usual practice to break the paved titles or marble stone into pieces by the use of a crushing machine or the like, and then lay new tiles or marble stone again on the floor surface in the above-described manner.
The above-described conventional floor paving method has involved a number of problems or drawbacks as follows.
When paving ceramic or asphalt plastic tiles or marble stones on floor surfaces in houses in general, concrete buildings or hotel or the like or brick buildings, difficulties are often encountered in laying the respective paving material units of a square or similar shape neatly in intimate contact with side surfaces of adjacent paving material units. This is because the individual paving material units usually differ from each other in longitudinal or transverse dimension, and cannot be neatly set in position simply by placing them in abutting contact with adjacent paving material units. This results in a degradation in the aesthetic appearance of the floor.
Further, the paving material placed on the adjacent floor is tapped with a rubber hammer as mentioned above to transmit vibrations to the underlying concrete. This is to urge same into intimate contact with the laid paving material and to ensuring that the paving material is bonded securely to the concrete when the latter cures and solidifies. The number of times of hammering, as well as the magnitude of hammering on such a occasion requires so-called "workmanship" based on long experience. This job is extremely difficult for an inexperienced worker.
Inappropriate hammering by an unexperienced worker can result in a problem of an incomplete bond between the underlying concrete and the paving material, and, consequently, in loosening or defoliation of the paved material.
Further, the stone-paved floor which requires a very high level of skill as mentioned above, is extremely difficult not only for an inexperienced worker but also for an experienced worker like a mason, in addition to a drawback of requiring a great deal of time.
On the other hand, when resurfacing a worn-out paved floor surface according to conventional methods, the floor surface can be paved with new paving material only after removal of oil paving material as mentioned hereinbefore, despite marked increases in paving cost and time.
In the case of conventional stone-paved floor, when one piece of the paving material, which is fixedly bonded on the floor surface closely to other pieces, is broken, the whole floor surface has to be re-paved since it is extremely difficult to replace one broken piece alone.
Further, in case of conventional methods, for laying various patterns on floor surfaces using tiles or marble stone pieces of different colors, the paving worker must have artistic talents.
Currently the population of craftsmen is on the decrease as a result of changes in social structure under the influence of technological developments, including introduction or application of industrial robots or other sophisticated machines. The masons who carry out the floor paving work are not an exception in this regard, and the question of how to cope with the lack of masons has become a matter of great concern in the construction industry.
In connection with the floor pavement with tiles or marble stone, it has been known in the art to install a floor heater in a paved floor. However, such floor heaters have been suffering from a problem of inefficient heating effect since in most cases they are arranged to transmit heat to the paving material at the floor surface through mortar.
In view of the foregoing problems, the present invention contemplates providing a stone-paved floor construction and a floor paving method, which can be put into practice without meticulous skills, and which makes up for the lack of skilled workers like masons, while making it possible for the unskilled worker to carry out the construction of pavement promptly and neatly to achieve improvements in working efficiency and the reduction in construction costs.